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Get the PopcornHour. It does a great job. The Mvix will play some HD but not .x264 which many, if not all .mkv files are. The Mvix is good for playing regular DVD ISO files. I have both. I like the Mvix for playing DVD ISO files especially since it has the sleep function so it's good in the bedroom. All HD files are played on the PH. The PH has a lot of good features, read here http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wi....php/Main_Page
Forget about burning to disk, set up a networked storage.

I don't know anything about that unit (looks like a repackaged PH) but one thing i noticed right away is all the usb connections are in the front making a messy connection if you have a usb drive permenanatly attached. I would do some checking into the support also. The PH is constantly updating the firmware with fixes and enhancements. Along with the PH community that have many addons to use. I know they have some other PH clones made by Network Media Tank but the support isn't the same. Support is very important to me.

I don't know anything about that unit (looks like a repackaged PH) but one thing i noticed right away is all the usb connections are in the front making a messy connection if you have a usb drive permenanatly attached. I would do some checking into the support also. The PH is constantly updating the firmware with fixes and enhancements. Along with the PH community that have many addons to use. I know they have some other PH clones made by Network Media Tank but the support isn't the same. Support is very important to me.

I don't use USB ports--I'd be using the Ehternet Port since the computer is in the next room and I've already run the cables--I'd have to knock down a wall to run USB. So if I were going to use USB, I'd connect my laptop from the front so for me USB in the front is an advantage (I think that's what they were thinking with that design is that most people would be connecting through LAN from the rear and laptops from the front so USB in front would be more convenient).

The PH A110 has one usb in the front and one in back, also has one to connect to the pc to load files if you have an internal hard drive. The unit your looking at also has one in the front to connect to the pc. The PH A100 has 2 usb in the front and none in back but doesn't have the one to connect to the pc. Also, the A100 doesn't decode DTS files as the A110 does and is HDMI 1.3 if that is a consideration.

Yea... I talked to some Comcast higher up way back in Feb, she told me she did some investigating and was told MARCH for a new firmware that is supposed to fix it.

Still waiting. I guess she meant March 2010 I think Comcast is much busier trying to get must-carry signals on cable before the DTV transition, working on DTA deployment, SE PA has recently gotten DOCSIS 3.0 up and running for internet, lots of bigger projects going on right now, so I guess they don't have time for firmware updates to the DVR boxes?

I really have no clue, just guessing. But yes it sucks, and I am in the same boat as everyone on this thread. If I ever see an update I will be sure to try it out and report my results to this thread/forum/section on AVS.

Well ak, I do agree Comcast has a lot of other top priority projects on their plate. But Comcast is a huge company. It's not like there's one guy running the show in the head-end. There's a team of guys, and really, how hard is it to load software on the server, test it for a few weeks, then push it live?

Comcast acts like theres maybe one or two guys that do everything, and those two guys go on the road from headend to headend doing these massive large scale projects one at a time. That can't be the case. There's so many people who would love a good paying job, especially in this economy. If Comcast is really short staffed loading updates and doing these huge projects, simply hire someone!

Comcast has an incentive to NEVER fix the firewire functionality through firmware update-they equate this to YOU stealing THEIR signal/content.
Furthermore, they know there is a 99.999999% chance the FCC will not compel them to fix it.
Dont hold your breath guys (&gals).
Unless a large enough group of consumers complain to the FCC, they will drag their feet/stall in perpetuity.

Some say they can get Comcast to work (Motorola Equipment it seems) if they do things in a certain sequence. Others claim the same software doesn't work at all. That's why I'm confused on how some say it works with a certain firmware - others say it doesn't.

I'm about ready to scrap it and get a TivoHD to replace the stupid Moto box. Much easier to transfer recordings to the PC anyway (better than real-time, wireless network). Just haven't had the chance yet and have spent too much on other things like a Blu-ray player of late.

Some say they can get Comcast to work (Motorola Equipment it seems) if they do things in a certain sequence. Others claim the same software doesn't work at all. That's why I'm confused on how some say it works with a certain firmware - others say it doesn't.

That's because there are so many variables. For me, it's different for certain channels. I can record off A&E, ESPN, NBC and others but not CBS, B10 Network, etc. There was a previous time when I could record just about any non-premium channel, and times when nothing would work. Depends on what hardware you have, where you live, what firmware, which channels, etc. And whatever status you currently have, don't count on it staying that way forever....

Did you drop the .ts file in a video edit program like VideoRedo or HDTV2MPEG?

I did not try any of that as usually the captured .ts file can play in vlc straight away. Maybe I jumped the gun on claiming failure and those programs can help. I'll do another sample capture tomorrow and play around with both of those programs to see if it helps.

I did not try any of that as usually the captured .ts file can play in vlc straight away. Maybe I jumped the gun on claiming failure and those programs can help. I'll do another sample capture tomorrow and play around with both of those programs to see if it helps.

VLC will only play certain captured .ts files from this method. What you'll have to do is resave it as a .ts if you want to keep it in that format. VideoRedo does a great job of fixing whatever causes the grey screen/no sound on .ts files that actually captured correctly.

I did not try any of that as usually the captured .ts file can play in vlc straight away. Maybe I jumped the gun on claiming failure and those programs can help. I'll do another sample capture tomorrow and play around with both of those programs to see if it helps.

Sometimes I've had to cut 5-10 frames off the front of a capture and then it would play OK after saving the new file.

I'm about ready to scrap it and get a TivoHD to replace the stupid Moto box. Much easier to transfer recordings to the PC anyway (better than real-time, wireless network). Just haven't had the chance yet and have spent too much on other things like a Blu-ray player of late.

I called tivo as I have a old sd unit that is junk after they switch off ntsc ota
to cancel the service and they sold me a new tivo HD for $100 off I can still capture off the moto box
with the work around but it's good to have a back plan
lots of hd i want to capture and burn to blu-ray this fall :-)

VLC will only play certain captured .ts files from this method. What you'll have to do is resave it as a .ts if you want to keep it in that format. VideoRedo does a great job of fixing whatever causes the grey screen/no sound on .ts files that actually captured correctly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDLIVE

Sometimes I've had to cut 5-10 frames off the front of a capture and then it would play OK after saving the new file.

Thanks to both of you. I needed to do both of these steps and I got a playable .ts file. Ran the .ts though Mpeg2Repair and it reported no errors so it looks like I'm good, unless somebody has a recommendation on another program I should send the .ts file through.

Thanks to both of you. I needed to do both of these steps and I got a playable .ts file. Ran the .ts though Mpeg2Repair and it reported no errors so it looks like I'm good, unless somebody has a recommendation on another program I should send the .ts file through.

Thanks again for the help

videoredo and mpeg2repair are still the best and they are free!
support them so they may continue.

The only reason I still have Comcast and not DirectTV is because I can firewire capture HD programming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hardcore Legend

If my MOTO box ever stops allowing the firewire transfers, I'm dumping Comcast the next day. I live with the high cost and poor customer service so I can record HD content to my PC.

Wow, you are sooooo not alone!!! At this point in Comcast's miserable existence, the ONLY thing that keeps me from going with DirecTV is the firewire capability, and I've flat out told them that. Of course, the CSR's are "trained" like misprogrammed monkeys to deny that firewire does or ever has been enabled, which is obviously insane to anyone who reads this thread.

Calling DirecTV a while back and asking them when they finally will have firewire capability to transfer HD content off their satellite boxes seemed futile. Presumably the general public is so computer illiterate that they probably see no harm in NOT offering such a feature? Yet, they would have customers like us in a heartbeat. I would seriously consider dumping Comcast to be nothing short of ceremonial after many, many years of miserable customer service, outright lies, insanely misleading advertising, failed promises, still missing channels, poor quality equipment, ridiculously inefficient use of limited bandwidth, skyrocketing bills, crappy super-annoying implementation of Emergency Alert System, unbelievably delayed or possibly even cancelled switched digital video rollout, etc., etc., etc.

On the bright side, the firewire workaround is somewhat inconvenient but works for me about 70% of the time. When it fails with an unusable file, I have to start over, but when it works, it's fine.
My workflow is:
- Capture content in realtime via firewire to PC from most non-premium channels using CapDVHS
- Repair the .ts file using MPEG2Repair
- Load file into VideoReDo TVSuite and save out again using QuickStream Fix tool
- Load fixed file into VideoReDo TVSuite and edit as necessary; save out to final file
- Play the .ts file in PowerDVD (looks better than VLC if you have a good video card); looks and sounds basically identical to what you experienced on the cable box, except some channels add an annoying bright vertical line on the extreme left of the screen (as a workaround, I have my home theater PC display adjusted not to show the first two columns of pixels)

So, there you go. If Comcast does indeed end up killing firewire completely, I guess some of us here will consider it the last straw and give up on them for good. Mmmnnn..., already dreaming of DirecTV's multi-court tennis coverage......